


A Whisper Apart

by thesadchicken



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Angst and Feels, I wrote this for Tapestry Day, M/M, for the theme "Eternity"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:40:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22737361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesadchicken/pseuds/thesadchicken
Summary: Q and Picard haven't seen each other for a long time. Reunited, they realize something needs to be said.Written for Tapestry Day.
Relationships: Jean-Luc Picard/Q
Comments: 12
Kudos: 65





	A Whisper Apart

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely my good friend [Spocko's](https://bowie-star-trekking.tumblr.com/) fault. He came up with the softest headcanon, and I just had to write a ficlet for it. He then went and painted something for my ficlet. The Inspiration Cycle.
> 
> Check out Spocko's [beautiful artwork on deviantart!](https://www.deviantart.com/iluarts/art/A-Whisper-Apart-Q-Picard-830462846)

One minute they are apart, the next they collide. It only takes a glance to bring them together. A sharp intake of breath, and they’re all over each other. Jean-Luc Picard has always been a shooting star in Q’s empty sky. Now he rains down on him, a meteor shower; crashing through the atmosphere; leaving burning trails of kisses and stardust in his wake.

It takes Q longer than usual to settle into his human form. By the time he’s used to it, Jean-Luc has already pushed him onto the bed. His back hits the mattress, and he blinks up at the room, noticing how large it seems through human perception.

There’s a light above, casting soft shadows on Jean-Luc’s face. Q watches those fluttering eyelids, that trembling mouth, and then he’s being kissed again. He can think of nothing else while Jean-Luc straddles him and captures his lower lip between his teeth.

For a moment Q feels trapped inside his own mind, shaken by the change. This doesn’t usually happen. How long has it been? His human form has a life of its own, and right now it is out of practice, almost unaccustomed to existing. Although time means nothing to Q, it defines this body, and the mind inside it. So how long has it been, for it to be so rusty, so out of use?

“Two years,” Jean-Luc whispers against Q’s lips, hands slipping into his hair and tugging him closer.

Q wonders if he’s been projecting, or if Jean-Luc simply guessed. But then another kiss steals his thoughts, and he leans into it, savouring the feeling of Jean-Luc’s chest pressed against his own. _Two years_. A long time for a human. Nothing for a Q. And yet every touch burns, his entire being is teetering on the brink of collapse.

Jean-Luc pushes him into the mattress with the force of his passion, lips parting to deepen the kiss. Q meets him halfway, opens his mouth and arms and holds on to him. _Two years_. A nanosecond. Eternity.

There’s heat and there’s anguish on Jean-Luc’s tongue – there are words he isn’t saying. Q feels them with every desperate kiss. Their human bodies naturally respond to the stimulus, but they both ignore the stiffness in their uniforms. There is too much lost time between them, too many words left unsaid.

Q’s hands slide down Jean-Luc’s back and come to rest on his hips. He realizes that he doesn’t need to perceive time the way humans do to know the ache of separation: his body knows, and his mind as well. And then there’s something else, something stirring at the very core of who he is. Another realization that makes his fingers dig into Jean-Luc’s skin – two years, a nanosecond, eternity: it’s all the same. Q can’t stand being away from Jean-Luc Picard.

He wants to say it, his newly uncovered secret. He wants to, but he can’t. The admission is too painful right now, too vulnerable when he already feels like he might come apart. Jean-Luc falters, and his mouth slips lower, gently grazing Q’s cheek. His desperation turns into tenderness. The hand in Q’s hair relaxes, cradling his head. Jean-Luc slides his other arm under Q’s shoulders, slowly pulling him closer.

When they kiss again, it’s almost too soft to bear. And with all his human fragility, all his astonishing human courage, Jean-Luc whispers, “I can’t stand being away from you.”

It unravels Q, as always. He looks up into those fierce hazel eyes, and he knows he will come undone right now, right here in this mortal’s arms. He brushes his lips against Jean-Luc’s in the slightest of touches. It was always him, the one shooting star.

“I love you,” Q says, the words spiralling around the room the minute he speaks, begging to be said again, to be heard again. “I won’t leave you,” comes the promise, the one he was so foolish not to make the second they met.

That’s all it takes for them to be together. A whisper. Sealed with a kiss, and a smile. Before they finally give in to the heat, Q snaps his fingers and makes the bed float above a sea of stars. They hold each other, the cosmos a silent witness to their own sliver of eternity.

* * *

_beautiful artwork by[Spocko_My_Man](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spocko_My_Man/pseuds/Spocko_My_Man)_


End file.
